Thursday, May 10, 2012

18 month old photography - keeping it real.

I love baby photography. And I love child photography. In between babies & children - the 18 month old and 2 year old age range - yes, I love that too. But! I have been known to tell people that this age range is the toughest to photograph. (Maybe another contender could be 15 year old boys. Which is because of their comfort factor, not because I don't like them!)

18 month olds, two year olds - they are fast, and they don't sit still for a camera. They aren't particularly susceptible to bribes. And if you try to make them do anything against their desires, they cry. I can confidently say that most parents of this age of child have enough memories of their child crying - they don't need me to preserve them forever. This presents a challenge to a photographer! :)

So the trick is to take their picture somewhere photogenic-ish, where they are happy, and where it doesn't matter if they're also on the move. This is potentially possible in a studio, but sometimes it is more successful at a park or somewhere fun, where there is lots of room.

This park is down the street from my house. It's busy and fun, and I like that it has a pond.

One thing that it's important for parents of this age of child to know is that realistically, their child is going to spend 99% of their time at the park with me running around. I will chase them, try to get them to play peek-a-boo with me, try to help them want to slide down the slide with the best light, and hope that they want to swing. But the odds of them sitting nicely on a bench and smiling are... low. It's all about action shots!

But it's pretty likely that life with your 2 year old is all about action, right? We want to capture your real life, right? :) Perfect.

This little guy's dad really likes the high-key look (which means the background is all white). So we started out at the park and then swung by my house for a few studio portraits. Keeping it real - he was NOT happy. The attention span for portraits at this age is very. short. We had already exceeded it. So we did every funny thing we could think of, at a frantic pace, and eventually he laughed and smiled for about 15 seconds. Got it! :)

I hope this little guy got a treat after we were done - he earned it! It's hard work having everyone focused on you & you alone for an hour. Isn't he darling?
If you have a child this age and would like portraits of him or her, I would love to meet you guys! It can take patience and I feel like that is really one of my strengths. I have more samples of my child photography here - please contact me to set up an appointment!